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DISCLAIMER: This is a long story. If you're a dog person, I plead for your help and interest.

So I live in a pretty desolate area considering the surrounding cities. It's the country inside the city, you could say. I live on a dead end of a dead end, so nobody ever comes back by my neighbors and I. Across the street behind my neighbors house is a huge marsh. Everyone seems to have a dog or two in the neighborhood and it took adjusting to because my dog, kind of a mut but mostly german shepherd, about 50 lbs, isn't a fan of other dogs. She's not aggressive, she's very skiddish and will run away if one approaches her. A lot of my neighbors let their dogs roam free, and my dog has had some encounters with others unintentionally from them running from their yards when we're walking. We've looked into training for her to accustom her to other dogs, but it's expensive. I've tried myself with friends or family members dogs, but the balance is my pooch is epileptic and the two times she was overly exposed to other dogs, she had seizures that night likely due to stress.

I get along really well with my neighbors across the street. Family with two kids about 10. They have two dogs, one is a very friendly mut. The other is mostly pitbull and not friendly at all. They do a really good job keeping it close to them. It doesn't leave the house unless it's on a leash.

Well last week, I was doing yard work in my backyard. My house is on 1.5 acres, so it's a good size and spread apart from other neighbors. My dog was with me, she is attached to my hip so when I do yardwork she just lays next to me. When she gets bored, she'll walk to the front and sit at the front door waiting to go in. After awhile, she started trotting towards the front which was unusual. I called to her several times and she didn't respond which was highly unusual. I walked behind her, about 20 yards because I wasn't concerned. Well, the friendly dog across the street wanders into our yard all the time. It did again and my dog sensed it. When I got around the front of the house, they were having a little circle bark at each other, nothing overly aggressive, but wanted to separate them. Both my neighbor and I emerged about the same time and called our dogs back to us. Unbeknownst to me, their pit was in their truck on a leash because they were leaving. The window was down all the way and saw this and went nuts. When I grabbed my dog, the pit jumped from the window and chased my dog into my garage.

She got on my dogs heels and started biting her in the back and legs. My dog ran into the back of my garage and down the 6 stairs that leads to my lower level. The pit then got ahold of my dogs neck and started tossing her around. I sprinted after them and the pit had my dog pinned down with her front paws on top of her and biting her neck. I curb stomped the crap out of the pit twice with no effect at all. I went into full rage mode and started punching the crap out of the pit in the head, mouth, eye, face and it didn't react at all. The pit had a harness on and I lifted it by the harness and was punching it in the ribs because I know that's how K9 handlers get their dogs to release. Still nothing. I grabbed it from behind, reared back and put it, literally, in a rear naked choke. The dog went out, released my dog and I let go and it was pulled away by its owner. This lasted about 30-45 seconds.

Luckily, the pit had a leader leash that wraps around its jaw to prevent it from pulling. I think that saved my dogs life because she could only get ahold of scruff on my dog because it couldn't open its mouth all the way. In the fight, my wife was there too and was trying to pull our dog away. My dog, instinctively was biting at anything it could and got ahold of my wife's hand really good. My dog got away with a few bites on her back, neck, side and legs. I had to quickly tend to my wife and dog ushering them inside and we raced off to the hospital and emergency vet.

My wife was off work for a week because her hand was fucked up. My dogs ok, she's been on antibiotics and her wounds are healing fine. The worst part will be the ER bill. The vet bill was only about $250, surprisingly, if you've ever been to a 24 hr emergency vet, their charges are outrageous. I went and talked to the neighbors when I got home late that night. It was kind of awkward. A few apologies all the way around, I was trying to be cool because I'd rather let it lie considering everyone was generally ok and I have to live next to them forever.

So here's my questions. My dog was skiddish before. Now she's downright frightened by the sound of a bark. Today I took her out on a leash and the pit was at their front door going nuts. Now that the pit knows it owned my dog, it's going to be overly aggressive. After seeing her barking and jumping, my dog started whining and tried to pull back inside. We had a trainer over this week and he was cool and all, but I didn't get a lot of questions answered. Has anyone ever done socialization classes for their dogs? Or heard of this? Does it work? We'd love to get another dog, but my biggest fear is having to give it up if it doesn't work out with my current dog. Also, has anyone fenced a large yard? I don't hve the slightest idea what a cost of tht would be. My yard is surrounded by wooded area, nobody has fences around and I feel like it'd be any eye sore. I don't want to fence just a portion either. I'd either do my entire backyard or none of it. Like I said, there's woods surrounding my backyard. I feel like the maintaining of trying to cut down weeds and bushes that would grow over and into it would be a huge pain. Anyone fenced near a wooded area?

DISCLAIMER: This is a long story. If you're a dog person, I plead for your help and interest.

So I live in a pretty desolate area considering the surrounding cities. It's the country inside the city, you could say. I live on a dead end of a dead end, so nobody ever comes back by my neighbors and I. Across the street behind my neighbors house is a huge marsh. Everyone seems to have a dog or two in the neighborhood and it took adjusting to because my dog, kind of a mut but mostly german shepherd, about 50 lbs, isn't a fan of other dogs. She's not aggressive, she's very skiddish and will run away if one approaches her. A lot of my neighbors let their dogs roam free, and my dog has had some encounters with others unintentionally from them running from their yards when we're walking. We've looked into training for her to accustom her to other dogs, but it's expensive. I've tried myself with friends or family members dogs, but the balance is my pooch is epileptic and the two times she was overly exposed to other dogs, she had seizures that night likely due to stress.

I get along really well with my neighbors across the street. Family with two kids about 10. They have two dogs, one is a very friendly mut. The other is mostly pitbull and not friendly at all. They do a really good job keeping it close to them. It doesn't leave the house unless it's on a leash.

Well last week, I was doing yard work in my backyard. My house is on 1.5 acres, so it's a good size and spread apart from other neighbors. My dog was with me, she is attached to my hip so when I do yardwork she just lays next to me. When she gets bored, she'll walk to the front and sit at the front door waiting to go in. After awhile, she started trotting towards the front which was unusual. I called to her several times and she didn't respond which was highly unusual. I walked behind her, about 20 yards because I wasn't concerned. Well, the friendly dog across the street wanders into our yard all the time. It did again and my dog sensed it. When I got around the front of the house, they were having a little circle bark at each other, nothing overly aggressive, but wanted to separate them. Both my neighbor and I emerged about the same time and called our dogs back to us. Unbeknownst to me, their pit was in their truck on a leash because they were leaving. The window was down all the way and saw this and went nuts. When I grabbed my dog, the pit jumped from the window and chased my dog into my garage.

She got on my dogs heels and started biting her in the back and legs. My dog ran into the back of my garage and down the 6 stairs that leads to my lower level. The pit then got ahold of my dogs neck and started tossing her around. I sprinted after them and the pit had my dog pinned down with her front paws on top of her and biting her neck. I curb stomped the crap out of the pit twice with no effect at all. I went into full rage mode and started punching the crap out of the pit in the head, mouth, eye, face and it didn't react at all. The pit had a harness on and I lifted it by the harness and was punching it in the ribs because I know that's how K9 handlers get their dogs to release. Still nothing. I grabbed it from behind, reared back and put it, literally, in a rear naked choke. The dog went out, released my dog and I let go and it was pulled away by its owner. This lasted about 30-45 seconds.

Luckily, the pit had a leader leash that wraps around its jaw to prevent it from pulling. I think that saved my dogs life because she could only get ahold of scruff on my dog because it couldn't open its mouth all the way. In the fight, my wife was there too and was trying to pull our dog away. My dog, instinctively was biting at anything it could and got ahold of my wife's hand really good. My dog got away with a few bites on her back, neck, side and legs. I had to quickly tend to my wife and dog ushering them inside and we raced off to the hospital and emergency vet.

My wife was off work for a week because her hand was fucked up. My dogs ok, she's been on antibiotics and her wounds are healing fine. The worst part will be the ER bill. The vet bill was only about $250, surprisingly, if you've ever been to a 24 hr emergency vet, their charges are outrageous. I went and talked to the neighbors when I got home late that night. It was kind of awkward. A few apologies all the way around, I was trying to be cool because I'd rather let it lie considering everyone was generally ok and I have to live next to them forever.

So here's my questions. My dog was skiddish before. Now she's downright frightened by the sound of a bark. Today I took her out on a leash and the pit was at their front door going nuts. Now that the pit knows it owned my dog, it's going to be overly aggressive. After seeing her barking and jumping, my dog started whining and tried to pull back inside. We had a trainer over this week and he was cool and all, but I didn't get a lot of questions answered. Has anyone ever done socialization classes for their dogs? Or heard of this? Does it work? We'd love to get another dog, but my biggest fear is having to give it up if it doesn't work out with my current dog. Also, has anyone fenced a large yard? I don't hve the slightest idea what a cost of tht would be. My yard is surrounded by wooded area, nobody has fences around and I feel like it'd be any eye sore. I don't want to fence just a portion either. I'd either do my entire backyard or none of it. Like I said, there's woods surrounding my backyard. I feel like the maintaining of trying to cut down weeds and bushes that would grow over and into it would be a huge pain. Anyone fenced near a wooded area?

This was a long read but I think I got some things out of it. Your dog will for the most part always be skiddish. My dog is similar. He is a lab/setter mix and is afraid of loud noises. Heck, even when I get out a pan for cooking he runs away. A friend who trains dogs mentioned having your dog attend a doggy daycare periodically. This will give your pup exposure and in a controlled environment. Sometimes with families and that your pup will still have you there as a cushion. So without you they try to become aware of their surroundings.

Hope it gets better. Hopefully, you took the vet bill to the neighbor and the ER bill! THey are responsible for those!

DISCLAIMER: This is a long story. If you're a dog person, I plead for your help and interest.

So I live in a pretty desolate area considering the surrounding cities. It's the country inside the city, you could say. I live on a dead end of a dead end, so nobody ever comes back by my neighbors and I. Across the street behind my neighbors house is a huge marsh. Everyone seems to have a dog or two in the neighborhood and it took adjusting to because my dog, kind of a mut but mostly german shepherd, about 50 lbs, isn't a fan of other dogs. She's not aggressive, she's very skiddish and will run away if one approaches her. A lot of my neighbors let their dogs roam free, and my dog has had some encounters with others unintentionally from them running from their yards when we're walking. We've looked into training for her to accustom her to other dogs, but it's expensive. I've tried myself with friends or family members dogs, but the balance is my pooch is epileptic and the two times she was overly exposed to other dogs, she had seizures that night likely due to stress.

I get along really well with my neighbors across the street. Family with two kids about 10. They have two dogs, one is a very friendly mut. The other is mostly pitbull and not friendly at all. They do a really good job keeping it close to them. It doesn't leave the house unless it's on a leash.

Well last week, I was doing yard work in my backyard. My house is on 1.5 acres, so it's a good size and spread apart from other neighbors. My dog was with me, she is attached to my hip so when I do yardwork she just lays next to me. When she gets bored, she'll walk to the front and sit at the front door waiting to go in. After awhile, she started trotting towards the front which was unusual. I called to her several times and she didn't respond which was highly unusual. I walked behind her, about 20 yards because I wasn't concerned. Well, the friendly dog across the street wanders into our yard all the time. It did again and my dog sensed it. When I got around the front of the house, they were having a little circle bark at each other, nothing overly aggressive, but wanted to separate them. Both my neighbor and I emerged about the same time and called our dogs back to us. Unbeknownst to me, their pit was in their truck on a leash because they were leaving. The window was down all the way and saw this and went nuts. When I grabbed my dog, the pit jumped from the window and chased my dog into my garage.

She got on my dogs heels and started biting her in the back and legs. My dog ran into the back of my garage and down the 6 stairs that leads to my lower level. The pit then got ahold of my dogs neck and started tossing her around. I sprinted after them and the pit had my dog pinned down with her front paws on top of her and biting her neck. I curb stomped the crap out of the pit twice with no effect at all. I went into full rage mode and started punching the crap out of the pit in the head, mouth, eye, face and it didn't react at all. The pit had a harness on and I lifted it by the harness and was punching it in the ribs because I know that's how K9 handlers get their dogs to release. Still nothing. I grabbed it from behind, reared back and put it, literally, in a rear naked choke. The dog went out, released my dog and I let go and it was pulled away by its owner. This lasted about 30-45 seconds.

Luckily, the pit had a leader leash that wraps around its jaw to prevent it from pulling. I think that saved my dogs life because she could only get ahold of scruff on my dog because it couldn't open its mouth all the way. In the fight, my wife was there too and was trying to pull our dog away. My dog, instinctively was biting at anything it could and got ahold of my wife's hand really good. My dog got away with a few bites on her back, neck, side and legs. I had to quickly tend to my wife and dog ushering them inside and we raced off to the hospital and emergency vet.

My wife was off work for a week because her hand was fucked up. My dogs ok, she's been on antibiotics and her wounds are healing fine. The worst part will be the ER bill. The vet bill was only about $250, surprisingly, if you've ever been to a 24 hr emergency vet, their charges are outrageous. I went and talked to the neighbors when I got home late that night. It was kind of awkward. A few apologies all the way around, I was trying to be cool because I'd rather let it lie considering everyone was generally ok and I have to live next to them forever.

So here's my questions. My dog was skiddish before. Now she's downright frightened by the sound of a bark. Today I took her out on a leash and the pit was at their front door going nuts. Now that the pit knows it owned my dog, it's going to be overly aggressive. After seeing her barking and jumping, my dog started whining and tried to pull back inside. We had a trainer over this week and he was cool and all, but I didn't get a lot of questions answered. Has anyone ever done socialization classes for their dogs? Or heard of this? Does it work? We'd love to get another dog, but my biggest fear is having to give it up if it doesn't work out with my current dog. Also, has anyone fenced a large yard? I don't hve the slightest idea what a cost of tht would be. My yard is surrounded by wooded area, nobody has fences around and I feel like it'd be any eye sore. I don't want to fence just a portion either. I'd either do my entire backyard or none of it. Like I said, there's woods surrounding my backyard. I feel like the maintaining of trying to cut down weeds and bushes that would grow over and into it would be a huge pain. Anyone fenced near a wooded area?

It is probably too late to do what I would have done after the attack. I would have brought the sheriff and the local constable/animal control officer in. By your description, that "PIT" dog should NOT be able to go onto your property. Add the danger of what that dog did(and what PIT's can do) and the owner has to take responsibility to control their dog. Being a 'nice' neighbor is always a good way to go, but in that instance you are being way way way too nice. There is a good chance that happens again, but you haven't contacted the proper authorities. I know how we would have handle it on our farm in the 50's and 60's - PIT dog would be dead! And at that time 'our neighbors' would not have had a problem with it. I remember 3 times my dad shot dogs that got in with our hogs and were chasing them. Two were 'dropped' off dogs and one was a neighbors. The neighbor also farmed and didn't have a problem what my dad did. Things cant be done like that anymore. One has to go to the proper authorities. I have done that repeatedly with hunting trespassers. I tried the 'nice' route, but in almost every case I caught the trespassers on my land again. I always bring the sheriff and the DNR in right away now. I don't want possible trespassers to know I am not going to pursue them. I want them to be scared to trespass and it works.

I have no idea about training/defusing your dog's fright. I do know that the in ground electric 'fences' do work to keep a dog in a certain area. I still run a mail route part-time and twice I have run into dogs that bark and bark and bark, yet don't cross a certain point. I beep the horn because I only drive in with packages. Both of these owners described the 'electric fence' and how well it worked. Since then I have gone in and gotten out of my truck and those dogs DID NOT cross the fence. I also found out from one guy that he had a good laugh when his power went out one time - the electric fence was obviously off; but the dog would not cross it even when the owner called to the dog. We had a good laugh about that.

That PIT dog is most likely going to cause problems to you or others in the future. I would definitely get in touch with the authorities before you have another problem or some kid gets attacked. It simply doesn't really pay too nice about what happened in your own garage. I would probably try to talk with the owner at this point and get it across to him that you simply will not put up with that again. PIT dogs like that simply have no reason to be around. Depends on how your neighbor takes it, but my guess is if they have a dog like that; they are NOT going to be very cooperative UNTIL the 'shit hits the roof'. I wouldn't wait for that. I will be honest with you, had I had the chance and a PIT dog was on my dog in my garage; that dog would most likely be dead. That is me though. I don't care about neighbors that are so stupid they have a dog that is dangerous to other people and other pets.

You have a situation where a dog is coming on to your property. I simply don't know how you can deal with that with fencing/ect. Even a full wooden fence would allow the PIT to scare your dog.

Are you long time neighbors and know each other well? A lot of things that would probably influence what I would do. If they are great friends, I think talking to them may work and hopefully they realize their dog is a PROBLEM that "THEY" need to deal with. If you are just neighbors and nothing more I would bring your sheriff in and not lose any sweat over it. Dangerous dogs need not be tolerated.

One thing I have found out about trying to be 'reasonable' in unreasonable situations usually comes back to 'bite' you. Use the proper authorities unless these neighbors are tremendously great friends. In that case, they will probably work with you.

This was a long read but I think I got some things out of it. Your dog will for the most part always be skiddish. My dog is similar. He is a lab/setter mix and is afraid of loud noises. Heck, even when I get out a pan for cooking he runs away. A friend who trains dogs mentioned having your dog attend a doggy daycare periodically. This will give your pup exposure and in a controlled environment. Sometimes with families and that your pup will still have you there as a cushion. So without you they try to become aware of their surroundings.

Hope it gets better. Hopefully, you took the vet bill to the neighbor and the ER bill! THey are responsible for those!

Doggy daycare is a good suggestion. My dog has gone to daycare since he was about 4 months old, and outside of retrieving, is his favorite thing to do now. It has done wonders from a socialization standpoint.

1. On the insurance side, the vet bills for your dog can be paid through their homeowners insurance AND if the dog now requires some kind of social rehab, that can be paid as well. Bad thing for your neighbor is that they will be non-renewed at the next renewal date, and the cost of their homeowners will double and they may have a very hard time finding a new company if they don't get rid of the dog.2. I don't care what anyone says, its the same thing. TV crew shows up at the door of the homeowners and this is what you hear: "Our dog was such a nice dog, it had never done this before." That's what happens when you have a pit/child mauling and the dog hurts or kills a child. I don't care how great you think the dog is, the pit breed is predispositioned or whatever that word is, to being an aggressive breed. That's why very few insurance companies will write a home with a pit in the home.3. I agree on doggy day care, and doggy day care is great for dogs on the opposite end of the spectrum too. Might take some of the "bite" out of the dog as well. We have a mini schnauzer and she is super aggressive towards other dogs, but when there are a bunch of dogs around, she calms a little bit. Repeat daily exposure might be a good thing for your dog to feel comfortable again.

On a personal note, a dog is family. I don't care if they are neighbors or not, their family member tried killing your family member. I would have the police get involved and force something to happen to that dog. I would also REALLY talk to the owner about that dog's aggression and the children. I hate pit bulls. I have seen too many claims for bites in my life and have seen too many shows on tv with children getting hurt. I would have a nice sit down with that family and talk about this. You should feel safe in your own yard.

Anytime I have seen anything like this, the first questions that gets asked is, "Which of the dogs, if any, were on a leash." When they find out their dog left their property, that's going to be a very bad thing for their insurance company to hear. I'm sorry to hear about your dog. Never a good thing. I will also say that I have a lot of experience with rescue pit bulls. When we train/walk them, or find them homes, I will say that the incidents of attack are almost nearly all by other dogs. Any dog, not trained properly, is as dangerous as the next.

Mike McCarthy is challenging the ruling on the field that he has 3 timeouts remaining.
Charter member of the WSN 1000-post Culb.

Most mellow dog I ever knew was a pit bull...and he was an adoption. Originally came from a place that wanted to Mike Vick things too.

I get that people are skittish about pit bulls, but the only predisposition problem they have is that they are far more likely to be acquired by crappy owners for crappy reasons. A well-trained and cared for pit bull is like any other dog...just sayin'.

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